Petals!

Back in Dubai! When I was born, my father said, "This is my dream girl." The best part about my childhood was in knowing that.                                 [Image: Ling Tang On Unsplash.com]  Is Dubai so expensive? This is a frequently asked question. When we were travelling to Dubai in the 80s, it was quite expensive. My dad used to travel a lot and always took us with him. While most people dream of visiting the top league touristy destinations, my dad looked for any place that caught his curiosity. Having began his medical career in Iran, he was always drawn to the Middle East. If there was any place where he couldn't take us to, he would ask what we wanted and even when he didn't have enough money, he'd get it for me and my sister. We looked forward to those trips more because it meant we got lots of stuff as gifts from him!!! A doctor by profession, there was no real scope for Dad to travel a l...

Cochin twestival 2011 turned out as special as the spellbinding effect of the city called Kochi. People scoff at times, asking me why its so special a place to me in comparison with other metros that, according to them, are better developed today.  The city itself has a magical appeal You know, the city of Kochi is special to my heart. It is not where i grew up, in the literal sense. Even when I was living in Africa with my parents, Kochi held the key to my dreams and devotion. I constantly dreamed of this city, with its narrow lanes, bright as button red buses that look like long moving buttons and its cosmopolitan clutter of people constantly on the move as though they will miss a bus or a ferry in case they lost a minute.   Generosity of Spirit & Love For me, meeting tweeples I knew only through Twitter and getting to know them in person was a real highlight, more than the terrific rock band or anythingelse. It gave me a real feel into the generosity of spir...

Many years ago, when I wrote this post on Kerala's caste system, I had not considered that people would start sending in abusive comments about one caste over the other. It baffles me that this is how Indians, all of us, continue to judge each other on account of caste differences.  [ READ: Guru Kripa: Powerful Lessons at the Lotus Feet ] My question is - why do you ABUSE any caste or community? I suggest that you read about the lives of great Masters and their stories - none of them judged anyone on the basis of caste.  You can read the life stories of Sri Adi Shankara Bhagawadpada, Tulsidas, Jnaneshwar, Namadev, Sri Aurobindo, Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Paramahansa Yogananda, Shirdi Sai Baba, and many more Gurus in Sanathana Dharma. NONE of them endorse these caste hierarchies in Bhakti Marga. Assuming that Guru Sampradaya does not appeal to your sensibilities, do read this  new book 'Ants among Elephants' written by Sujatha Gidla, who writes about herself as being bor...

A very close friend of mine got married.  That's great news. I am happy for the couple and sad about how we have begun to communicate to our friends and loved ones.   If we are angry, we use Facebook to send out angry messages rather than just sit down like normal people do and talk common sense. Or maybe common sense isn't so common anymore. I don't know how communication works these days. Call this sentimental bullshit. Call it old fashioned values, which I am usually guilty of. But it hurt like hell to be hearing this piece of important, good news first through Facebook.   If you were me, you would probably be more balanced than upset about it, right? That's what I am thinking right now to console myself.

Thank you, my dear friends, for the overwhelming support and encouragement that you gave me in promoting and discussing my post "While Jyotiraditya Sleeps" - both on Facebook and Twitter. The responses, the feedback and the feelings that came through were so overwhelming. I wish i could capture it all but i don't want to take up a lot of your mindspace and time. But among the many responses that I got on Twitter and Facebook, one comes to immediate recall with this message from Ashwin Issac, a fine young writer in the making whom I 've been fortunate to know through Twitter.  He stated, " The post tells me a lot more of a mother's emotion to her son. Whatever I missed to see in Mom, I saw after reading this. Thanks a lot!" As a writer, this comment is every writer's secret dream. To be heard by a wide cross section of people across the world, to be able to transform our thoughts into their action sphere and in the process, to be able to inspire...

As a mother, my happiest and most peaceful moments were when my baby used to sleep. I loved watching him. It felt like watching a dream come true. A miracle unfolding.  Once, in an interview to a famous magazine, Indira Gandhi had once stated that no matter how turbulent or busy her day was, she had always peeped in to watch her sons sleep because just looking at their innocent faces told her that her world was this and not the political dramas that constantly swept her life apart - she said that she could never resist the temptation to kiss her sons while they slept because they looked like angels...too good to be real.  I think I understand what she meant now.                                                [Image: Kin Li  @ Unsplash] Because I am a mother and in a way, like her, I felt I wasn't ever there for my child. When I w...

Kusum Lata Sawhney did a fantastic write up in the Hindu Magazine, Sunday, March 6 2011, weekly edition, to celebrate the 100 years of celebrating womanhood on International Women's day.  She wrote about what makes the mother-daughter relationship a truly special one. It evokes memories, brings to light how Indian moms are changing so as to sync with their own pressures, perceived failures and disappointments. She talks about how the values of life have changed. She reveals that today's women want things faster because they are more ambitious for themselves and not necessarily for their family's happiness. Let's face it - our problems as women have more to do with our values and ambitions and less to do with male domination, that we so commonly hear of. The same author  says, " The issue is not whether we are spoilt or not, but in fact, to understand that we are spoilt and we have to rein it in . ...It was very different before. A generation that was gratef...